Among the four major telecom operators in Nigeria, Globacom was the only network that recorded an increase in its internet subscriber base in the last quarter of 2015, according to a new report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The latest report by the regulatory body reaffirmed Globacom’s position as the preferred choice for internet subscribers in the telecommunications industry.
An analysis of the newly-published statistics shows that Globacom alone recorded an increase in its internet subscriber base in the last quarter of 2015 with 23,285,454 internet users in October, 24,952,559 in November and 25,082,066 in December, which is an addition of 3.2m new internet subscribers in the quarter.
However, MTN, Airtel and Etisalat lost subscribers within the stipulated period. While MTN had a total of 41,835,294 internet subscribers at the beginning of October 2015, it recorded 39,924,737 data subscribers at the end of December, which is a loss of close to 2 million customers within the period under review.
In the same vein, Airtel which kicked off the quarter with 17,730,955 internet customers closed with 16,835,952, making a loss totaling about 900,000 subscribers.
Etisalat, like MTN and Airtel also lost 408,282 internet customers, having started the quarter with 15,598,070 data and closing with 15,189,788.
NCC, in a report on its website last month had also disclosed that Globacom garnered the highest number of internet users in September 2015 with 1,130,850 new internet subscribers added on its network. This increased the number of data users on the network from 20,765,379 in August to 21,896,229 data users the following month. The over one million new additions was higher than the total number of new internet consumers who joined the three other major telecom operators, namely MTN, Airtel and Etisalat, who collectively gained a total of 716,450 new internet subscribers in September.
Globacom’s clear lead in new data subscriber acquisition has been viewed by industry watchers as an indication of its improved internet service delivery and unmatched pricing policy. The network, in the last one year, announced that it had significantly upgraded its data backbone. The upgrade was enhanced by its extensive optic fibre infrastructure which spans thousands of kilometers across Nigeria. This is linked to the Glo 1 submarine cable which connects Nigeria to Africa, Europe, America and the rest of the world.
These are in addition to its attractive product offers like Free Tomorrow, Bumper Data, Campus Booster, Twin Bash and Weekend and Night packages and cost effective internet packages which have endeared data users to the network.
In the Free Tomorrow package for instance, all the value of airtime a subscriber consumes in a day for internet services, phone calls and SMS, are summed up, doubled and credited to the consumer’s device free by 12 midnight.
Similarly, the Glo Campus Booster is a special data plan that gives students and others on campus up to eight times more data value whenever they use their Glo lines on any of the campuses across the country.
Bumper Data Offer avails consumers the opportunity to get 1.5G for just N1000 and 4.5G for N2500, while a N3,000 data plan gives subscribers 6GB data valid for one month, while a N4000 data plan gives 9GB data plan valid for a month.
With Twin Bash offers, subscribers can recharge data directly from recharge cards in denominations of N200 to N5000. Any subscriber who recharges with N200 gains 200 MB of data worth N800 and N200 worth of airtime free for voice calls. This offer is reputed as the best deal for voice and data in Nigeria, and can be accessed to by dialing *223*pin#. It is equally available on the N500, N1000 and N5000 data recharge plans.